African American 25W - Blog 1

I have really enjoyed the first couple weeks of this class so far. I have always been a big horror person, and watching the lectures from this class has helped me dive deeper into the meaning behind some of these films. Growing up, I watched a lot of “Key and Peele,” and found him hilarious! I watched the film, Get Out, a few years back for the first time and really enjoyed it. I had no idea that Jordan Peele directed the film until later on and was very surprised. I was truly terrified watching the film, especially when the black man freaked out after he regained his consciousness. That’s when I realized that the film was going to have a deeper meaning behind it, like systemic racism. 


I’ve watched countless horror films and have always watched them for my own entertainment. This class has surprised me by helping me understand that these films can relate to real life problems in society. I brought my Peruvian friend home for thanksgiving with my family and joked with him that my mom is going to hypnotize him, like Get Out. But I started to think about it, and I’m sure something like that has happened in real life before. 


Movies like,The Comet, felt very relatable because being the only person of color in certain situations can feel just as lonely as being the last person alive. This example doesn’t relate to race, but has a similar idea, where last summer I went to a church event with my friend and there were at least 100 people my age. I didn’t know anyone and my friend went somewhere and I was all alone. I felt so uncomfortable because I didn’t know anyone and everyone seems to group up and know each other already. I had no idea what to do. After some time, I decided to just walk out and be on my own rather than being in a situation like that. 


This course is exactly what I expected. I chose to be part of this course because I love horror films, and I simply wanted to learn more about them. I think it’s also tough to come across a class where you get to watch a lot of movies. I am looking forward to continuing to learn more about these types of films, and I’m confident that it will become more enjoyable when it has a deeper meaning for me as well. 



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